Once upon a time I happened to mention somewhere on Usenet that
getting rid of one of our two internal-combustion vehicles would
increase our carbon footprint, because we can do car things with the
pickup truck, but we couldn't do truck things with the car.

An anti-truck fanatic told me, with a perfectly-straight face and
absolute sincerity, that adding a trailer to my car would render it
capable of towing trailers.

I drive the truck now and again, but I pulled a trailer a few blocks
exactly once, and I'm never, ever going to tow a trailer on a public
road again. Luckily, my spouse doesn't mind.

I don't drive the truck very often. I fetched a sheet of plywood with
it several years ago, once I fetched bottled water for a church event,
and twice I drove it to Nappanee intending to ride to Bremen. Well,
the second time I drove to Bremen intending to ride to Nappanee.

Didn't make it either time. The first trip went very well at first --
I rode east on a deserted county road to a fabric shop, then returned
to Nappanee. On the return leg I met an Amish man on a pedestrian
accelerator, and we waved to one another. Nothing to do with whatever
that virulent exchange about "waiving" was -- I think that that was
some other newsgroup -- but simply "I observe that another human being
is present."

After putting my thread and bodkin into the truck and buying a bottle
of tea, I headed west toward Bremen.

After the first turn, I stopped to consult my map, and a scrap of
paper fell out. I tried to pick it up without dismounting, lost my
balance, and, being tangled in the bike, landed like a sack of wet
cement. I got so banged up that after I'd made it as far as the bike
shop (and consternated the children left to watch it; since my vehicle
made no noise, they didn't notice that I was there until I was
preparing to leave) I turned back and returned to Martin's.

Whereupon I discovered that I was so sore that I couldn't lift the
bike into the truck. A young man who was passing by noticed my
difficulty and loaded it for me. I was, at least, capable of climbing
into the truck bed to bungee the bike.

In the above incident, the wet-leaves-under-dry-leaves incident, and
the black-ice-on-the-sidewalk incident, I landed on my left hip.
(After stepping on the ice, I re-wrote the scene in _Vorjack_ in which
the title character conceals a crippling injury.) I don't think all
those impacts did my current condition any good.

The second trip was a year or so later; I'd hardly gotten onto US 30
before I realized that my rotator cuff hadn't recovered from driving
to Frankfort and back a few months earlier. It quit hurting when I
quit driving, but it had put me out of the mood to ride in cold damp,
so instead of exploring, I rode in a straight line to a country store
and the same straight line back. The store was not open on that day
of the week, but I found some white cheddar at a store I passed on the
way, and I bought lots of goodies at Rentown, which is where I had
parked. I wish I could go back and get some more coarse-ground almond
butter, but I'm still afraid to drive that far.

For quite a while after that, my range in a car was a fraction of my
range on a bike. I really should drive more often, for the exercise.
We need to stock up on frozen foods, which should be motivation. Last
time I drove to the grocery stores, I went out to 250 East on Wooster
and came back to town on Thirty. Perhaps next time, I should go to
350 East.

Umm . . . I've done that on the bike many times -- usually in the
other direction -- but is the 350 E railroad crossing open to *cars*?
I do remember one time that it wasn't, therefore not being blocked
must be the normal state.

--------------------------------

Tour d'Warsaw today: two farmer's markets, two groceries, the
library, and the dollar store. I skipped the side-trip up Detroit and
ate "rye" rolls and cream cheese in the parking lot of Owen's West.

Once upon a time I happened to mention somewhere on Usenet that
getting rid of one of our two internal-combustion vehicles would
increase our carbon footprint, because we can do car things with the
pickup truck, but we couldn't do truck things with the car.

An anti-truck fanatic told me, with a perfectly-straight face and
absolute sincerity, that adding a trailer to my car would render it
capable of towing trailers.

Pickup trucks are amazingly useful vehicles.

I've heard the same argument concerning needing only a trailer to match
pickup truck capabilities but they will never match.

You can indeed pull a ton or two in your little Prius via a trailer,
just as you could in a pickup truck, but your suspension won't hold up
like a truck's will and you won't be able to stop as well as a truck
can. You'll also need some additional skills maneuving the trailer
around that aren't quite similar to skill levels required for a truck.

The two modes of transport aren't equivalent.

Most people probably don't need a car either. They could get by with a
motorcycle/scooter/bicycle and a good rain suit, renting a car only when
needed.

We all have gobs of stuff we don't really "need". I'd hate to get to
the point where someone with a "superior" point of view gets to dictate
what we really "need".

Once upon a time I happened to mention somewhere on Usenet that
getting rid of one of our two internal-combustion vehicles would
increase our carbon footprint, because we can do car things with the
pickup truck, but we couldn't do truck things with the car.

An anti-truck fanatic told me, with a perfectly-straight face and
absolute sincerity, that adding a trailer to my car would render it
capable of towing trailers.

Pickup trucks are amazingly useful vehicles.

I've heard the same argument concerning needing only a trailer to match
pickup truck capabilities but they will never match.

You can indeed pull a ton or two in your little Prius via a trailer,
just as you could in a pickup truck, but your suspension won't hold up
like a truck's will and you won't be able to stop as well as a truck
can.Â* You'll also need some additional skills maneuving the trailer
around that aren't quite similar to skill levels required for a truck.

I disagree about the car's suspension. If the trailer is properly
designed and loaded, the car carries maybe 100 pounds hitch load. The
suspension effect is about the same as one extra passenger. Almost all
the trailer's load is borne by the trailer's suspension, not the car's.

You're correct that the car+trailer won't stop quite as well. If that's
a real worry, one can get a trailer with its own brakes. But I've driven
tens of thousands of miles in small cars pulling brakeless trailers with
no braking problems. Reasonable caution is all that's required.

I agree that more skills are required, but that's almost entirely when
backing up. It's easy to remember not to cut corners too sharply.
The two modes of transport aren't equivalent.

I agree. The car+trailer option is less expensive, gets better gas
mileage, emits less pollution, doesn't produce big blind spots for other
drivers, doesn't have headlights at a blinding height, etc. etc.

Once upon a time I happened to mention somewhere on Usenet that
getting rid of one of our two internal-combustion vehicles would
increase our carbon footprint, because we can do car things with the
pickup truck, but we couldn't do truck things with the car.

An anti-truck fanatic told me, with a perfectly-straight face and
absolute sincerity, that adding a trailer to my car would render it
capable of towing trailers.

Pickup trucks are amazingly useful vehicles.

I've heard the same argument concerning needing only a trailer to
match pickup truck capabilities but they will never match.

You can indeed pull a ton or two in your little Prius via a trailer,
just as you could in a pickup truck, but your suspension won't hold up
like a truck's will and you won't be able to stop as well as a truck
can. You'll also need some additional skills maneuving the trailer
around that aren't quite similar to skill levels required for a truck.

I disagree about the car's suspension. If the trailer is properly
designed and loaded, the car carries maybe 100 pounds hitch load. The
suspension effect is about the same as one extra passenger. Almost all
the trailer's load is borne by the trailer's suspension, not the car's.

You're correct that the car+trailer won't stop quite as well. If that's
a real worry, one can get a trailer with its own brakes. But I've driven
tens of thousands of miles in small cars pulling brakeless trailers with
no braking problems. Reasonable caution is all that's required.

I agree that more skills are required, but that's almost entirely when
backing up. It's easy to remember not to cut corners too sharply.
The two modes of transport aren't equivalent.

I agree. The car+trailer option is less expensive, gets better gas
mileage, emits less pollution, doesn't produce big blind spots for other
drivers, doesn't have headlights at a blinding height, etc. etc.

The problem is this extra weight is at the tail end of the car. A load
distributing hitch will help, but it does put strains on suspension
elements. An additional person in the vehicle isn't quite the same
since placement is between axles. Unibody cars don't have the
ruggedness of a ladder frame like a pickup truck.

But truck versus car/trailer options largely depends on just how much
hauling one is going to do. Occasional hauls are probably better done
with a trailer option but more frequent hauling better with a pickup.

The trailer also becomes one more thing to stash in your parking area if
your frequency of use is enough to justify ownership over rental.

Get the best tool for the job and use frequency. For me, this has been
single vehicle ownership of a pickup truck to handle the full range of
my motor vehicle needs.

The car we acquired yesterday has a trunk that is easy to put my
walker into, if the back seats are down. I'm not sure that I can put
the walker into it on days when I *need* the walker.

I haven't tried putting the bike into it yet. We --it took both of
us, and it was a real struggle-- put the bike into the Versa when we
went to turn it in and sign the papers for the Corolla. And I made it
to both farmers' markets before closing time!

I wonder whether I can get both the bike and the Wheelie Cool into the
trunk for a trip to Rentown?

This all started when squirrels gnawed through the gas line on the
Taco again, and we had it hauled off on a flatbed. When Dave went the
dealer to check on it, he ran into a salesman who had, on the previous
day, received a new version of a Corolla Dave had been stalking.

Which somehow reminded me

Monday, 24 September 2018

At which point the computers struck six bells, and when I'm on
gabapentin, bedtime is bedtime.

The Taco is back on our parking pad. The salesman said that if we
ever sell it, he personally wants it, squirrel-bait gas line and all.
Dave sprinkled critter repellent on the parking areas, and plans to
put mothballs into the engine compartment.

I drove the Corolla home after we picked up the Taco, and stopped at
Martin's and Aldi. Five and a half miles, much of it straight, and
nary a peep from my rotator cuff or hip. I did need a short walk
after riding in the passenger seat.

I started this post to say that I've remembered another reason we
can't do without the Taco: It's our only four-wheel-drive vehicle,
and it has high clearance and wide tires. When snow is predicted,
it's the Taco we park in the garage. It can always get out, and after
Dave drives back and forth in the driveway for a while, the car can
get out too.

The bike would be even easier to get over the snowplow-ridge, but I no
longer dare to ride on a street with spots of ice, and Dave can't ride
at all.

Perhaps this winter will refrain from doling out our ration of snow a
little every day, and there will be some days I can ride instead of
gazing soulfully at young boys dressed all in black as they ride past.

The car we acquired yesterday has a trunk that is easy to put my
walker into, if the back seats are down. I'm not sure that I can put
the walker into it on days when I *need* the walker.

A very good friend of ours always takes her bike when she shops for
cars. Admittedly, she doesn't buy cars very often; but she won't buy
anything unless she's proven she can put her bike into it. I think she's
on her 3rd Ford Focus hatchback now.

She has the loading process down to a science: Flatten the rear
seatbacks; Spread the blanket in the hatch area and over the "bumper" to
prevent scratches; Remove the front wheel; Bungee the handlebars to one
side; Slide the bike in, rear wheel first, drivetrain up; Fold the
blanket over part of the bike; Lay the front wheel atop the blanket.

The car we acquired yesterday has a trunk that is easy to put my
walker into, if the back seats are down. I'm not sure that I can put
the walker into it on days when I *need* the walker.

A very good friend of ours always takes her bike when she shops for
cars. Admittedly, she doesn't buy cars very often; but she won't buy
anything unless she's proven she can put her bike into it. I think she's
on her 3rd Ford Focus hatchback now.

She has the loading process down to a science: Flatten the rear
seatbacks; Spread the blanket in the hatch area and over the "bumper" to
prevent scratches; Remove the front wheel; Bungee the handlebars to one
side; Slide the bike in, rear wheel first, drivetrain up; Fold the
blanket over part of the bike; Lay the front wheel atop the blanket.

Then shut the hatch and drive away.

I use a similar approach with our Ford Escape: fold a seatback, remove the bike's front wheel, put the bike in so that the rear tire is wedged between the back of the front seat and the "B" pillar. Place front wheel in the foot well of the other rear passenger seat.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO

At last! Today's ride gave me not one, but *two* ideas! I'll
extravagantly use up both in one post.

The main street in town is lined with parked cars, but between the
Cerulean and the post office, there's a gap long enough to pull over
to let traffic go by, without needing to stop or even slow down.

When leaving town this morning, I had just passed the last parked car,
and signaled before getting back into the parking lane.

After making the lane change, I reflected that the guy behind me, if
any, didn't need to know that I was about to swerve right -- but he
*did* need to know that I wasn't going to swerve left without warning.

I think I could get an entire column out of the idea that sometimes
you signal just to let people know that you are in the habit of
signaling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the readership seems to be divided between those spry enough to
mount in one smooth motion and those who put on chain guards and don't
mind the tug-tug-tug of cuffs wearing out by brushing the chain
guards, I doubt that the following will be of any use.

I wore sweat pants for the first time today -- better than four pairs
of ill-fitting tights! -- and remembered an old rule. "If you pin
wings into the ankles of your pants, resist the temptation to use the
right wing as a handle when lifting your foot over the top bar."

Pulling on the wing will bend the pin, sometimes enough to make it pop
open, and might tear the fabric.

I doubt that the stout brass pins I used today would bend, but I
refrained from pulling on the wing anyway.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lovely day for a ride, but I cut it short in order to get back in time
for lunch at The Heritage Room -- and the "music" was so loud that I
had to leave before I'd gotten a single bite.

But at home I had some excellent corn bread and three kinds of good
cheese. I melted the chevre onto the swiss in the microwave.